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Dariel's World

Hi. I'm Dariel Raye, an interracial/multi-cultural paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and psy/suspense author, and every day of this journey is a learning experience. I'm also a counselor, musician, and animal lover. My stories are about all-conquering love and romance, and I enjoy hosting other authors as well. Enter a world where werewolves, vampires, multi-shifters, vamp-like Nephilim, Vodouin Fey, and all things paranormal capture our hearts...

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Welcome back for another Zaidi Feature! I had the pleasure of meeting this new, rather prolific author during our first Zaidi Features event on Facebook. If you haven't met Krystal White or read any of her books yet, you should definitely take a look. She'll tell us a bit more about what's available now, and what's coming soon in her interview, so sit back, enjoy my interview with Krystal, and leave an encouraging comment if you're so inclined :-)

Book description:

Alessandra Powell was raised by her grandmother. Not because her parents were dead, but rather because her mother didn't want her and her father wasn't even aware of her existence.

When tragedy struck and her grandmother died, Alessandra was faced with an impossible decision. She could reach out to her father and convince him to help her or go into foster care until she’s 18. In this installment of the series we meet Alessandra and follow her life as she goes through all of these life altering changes.

My name is Krystal and I love reading and writing! I doubt I could be without my kindle as I take it everywhere with me as every moment I can spear I spend it reading.

I have always thought of myself as quite inventive and I figured it was time to put my creativity and imagination to work. That's when I decided to buy a smaller laptop that I could easily carry with me and furiously write whenever possible!

That's how late 2014 I began writing. I love it and I hope you enjoy reading my stories almost as much as I enjoyed writing them!

Happy reading,

KrystalInterview

1.When
did you know you wanted to be a writer? What were some of your first steps
toward making your dream a reality? How would you say most of your stories are
conceived? Dreams? Research? Experience?

The idea of writing didn’t really take form in my
mind until late 2014. I had some down time from work and was able to squeeze
quite a few more reads in between appointments (as I carry my kindle with me
everywhere). Towards the end of the year I began thinking how I would have
written things differently if I were the writer of any given book and that’s
how the idea was born.

I researched online how difficult it would be to
publish and realize via Amazon wasn’t as hard as all the other venues. Then at
the end of November 2014 I began writing.

I had no prior writing experience- other than the
usual essays for college or reports for work.

2.What
3 things would you like readers to know about you?

I love write. Even though I just started writing I
do see myself writing for as long as my fingers allow me too.

I am a reader above all and if I don’t LOVE my own
story I don’t publish it! Honestly, I do have about six written stories sitting
in my document file waiting for me to figure out what is missing in order for
me to love them. When I do, then I’ll publish them.

I am a mother of two wonderful children who are the
center of my world.

3.What
role does your family play in your writing, if any? Any pets? If so, how many
and what kind?

My husband works at night and doesn’t come home
until midnight- which is perfect for me as I write at night. Typically my
productive hours are from 7pm-11pm.

I sit down in my living room after my children and I
have had dinner and write while they play.

4.What
are you doing when you’re not writing? Day job? Health concerns or caring for
family?

Yes, I do have a full time job. Thankfully no
current health concerns.

5.Tell
us about your books. Genre, titles, any favorite characters? What can we look
forward to from you in the near future? WIP’s, upcoming releases?

So far I’ve published the following books and I
consider them to be YA/NA:

A MOTHER’S SACRIFICE. It’s about a young Russian
medical student who met the man of her dreams and he turned out to be her worse
nightmare. She fled and left him and everything behind but feared for her life
and that of her loved ones. When she realized she was pregnant with his baby
she decided to give her up for adoption hoping he would never find out about
the baby or go looking for her if he did.

This book takes us through the daughter’s journey
and this installment ends when the daughter reads a letter her mother left for
her to read on her 18th birthday.

NOTE: There’s alcohol, sex and male rape in this
story. I have yet to begin writing book 2, but plan to do so this year.

SECOND CHANCE AT LOVE. This is my one standalone and it has a HEA!

Melissa- who is the main character of this story-
grew up alone and not thinking much about herself. It wasn’t until she was in her
junior year at college that she began to grow as a person thanks to her new
roommate who took it upon herself to help Melissa out of her cocoon.

I love this story because we see how Melissa grows
as a person and how she fights for who she wants to be and what she ultimately
deserves.

The ALESSANDRA POWELL SERIES:

1-UNFORESEEN
2- SUPERSEDED 3-SOLACE 4-VANQUISH

So far this series has been my favorite to write! I
LOVE all the characters and I loved how the story turned out!

It is about a young girl who grew up with her
maternal grandmother since her mom was a stripper and basically dumped her at
her mom’s footsteps.

Alessandra knows who her biological donor is, yet he
doesn’t know she exists. When her grandmother dies she is faced with the
decision of either going into foster care or asking her father for help.

After this, the series is about her new life and
everything she faces from that moment forward.

In this book you will find political drama,
kidnapping, assassination attempts and a whole lot more!

I am currently working on book 5 in this series.

The ANABELLA SUMMER SERIES:

1-FORTUITOUS
is book one of the series and so far this is my naughtiest one! The sex is
steamer, a bit more graphic- even though I don’t go into too many details as I
think that’s what erotica books are for- and the alpha males are more demanding
here.

One of my readers said: “it was like 50
Shades, but without the graphic sex”. I don’t know if I completely agree with
her as there’s no submission or domination; however, as I said the alphas are
more controlling.

2-LIFE
AFTER LOVE is book two in the series. It is mostly finished and I expect to publish
it by July 2nd in order for my readers to have a new story to cozy
up to for July 4th.

The KING OF ALPHAS SERIES.

This is my venture into shifters. I had
one basic idea for it and now it has taken a life of its own! This is my best
selling series.

1-ALPHA
QUEEN is book one and here we meet Princess Lexi Valentina Lyon who has always
been different than everyone else and when she meets the man of her dreams her
grandmother finally confesses why Lexi is so different.

**SPOILER***

Lexi
is the direct descendant of King Leonidas- who was the last King of Alphas. Now
she will give birth to the man who will become the King of Alphas nearly a
thousand years after Leonidas.

2-SUPREME
ALPHA is book two of the series and here Lexi is already married to Prince
Raven and has given birth to the future King of Alphas. Since its been so long
without a supreme ruler there are shifter kingdoms that oppose the idea of
having someone above them and will do everything in their power to rid
themselves of Lexi, her son and anyone who wants him to rule.

An all-out war is inevitable and in book
three we will see who wins!

I am currently writing book 3 and it
will be published late July.

UPCOMING RELEASES:

UNBROKEN is book one of a new series. I don’t know
how many books it will have yet as I am still writing it.

WIPs: I currently have about 18 novellas in
different stages sitting in my computer. The moment I feel they are complete
and I LOVE them I will go ahead and publish them J

My favorite character so far is Alessandra Powell.
Second favorite Anabella Summers. I am writing about some very cool kick-ass
girls that will make it difficult for me to choose a favorite later on.

As far as WIPs that I can talk about now I began
writing a new series called Taming Her. It is a mixture of stories about strong
independent girls that intimidate the men who know her and it takes a certain
kind of strong alpha male to come into their lives and make them see that
equality and love are achievable in a relationship.

I am super excited about book three of my King of
Alphas action shifter series as the battles will continue and some epic extinct
shifters will be revived using dark magic! It’s shaping out pretty great!

Then I began writing a sexy shifter series with a
lovely leopard as the female character that I am having fun with ;-)

All in all, lots of exciting stuff and a bit of
everything to please all (or most)

6.Is
there a common thread in your books? How do your values show up in your
writing? Jungian philosophy? What do you want readers to take from your
writing?

Common
thread? YES! I LOVE writing about strong women. I don’t really like clingy
crybabies. I like my main girls to be strong women. Yes they make mistakes, but
they own them, learn from them and ultimately move on. Also, there’s cheating,
death and sex in my books as that is all part of life.

One
of my readers pointed out that on my series I LOVE cliffhangers! And I’ve got
to say that I do, but since I tend to publish the next installment rather
quickly it shouldn’t be too painful for those of you who hate cliffhangers.

A
takeaway would be that we all have problems. We all experience pain, heartache,
loss, betrayal and many other awful things; however, at the end of the day we
are still here and we must persevere.

7.What
do you look for in a good book? In what ways would you say your books exhibit
these qualities?

I want a book that draws me in! I hate to read
something that may be too predictable or that the story takes too long to
develop. That is why I take all of this into account in my books. I do keep
them somewhat short and sweet!

8.What
are some things you know now about writing and being an author that you wish
someone had told you at the very beginning?

I still consider myself a new author as I’ve only
been writing for six months; however, it seems that having a team to support
you is a must and I hope to have help soon J

9.Along
that same line, what are some of your favorite resources?

So far I’ve written what comes to mind. I call the
creative side of my brain KRYSTALVILLE as I write what the characters who live
in this part of my brain want me to.

Believe it or not, I don’t write anything down!
Whenever a new idea comes to mind I grab my laptop and begin writing. I have no
idea beforehand what the book will be about or what my characters will do or
where will they live or what will they do. When the story begins, I am simply
the medium my characters use to have their stories told. I LOVE not knowing
where my stories will take me. Everything from the characters names, where they
live, what happens to them and how the story ends is new to me.

10.What lifts your
spirits when you’re discouraged?

My children!

11.Other than
writing, what’s your passion?

Reading
and watching TV – if I can. I DVR everything that I like and try watching an
episode or two whenever possible. Mostly, I write and play with my children.

12.Not limited to
writing, what do you believe are some of your greatest accomplishments so far?

Definitely my children and helping my dad get some very important items
from his bucket list before he passed away.